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Published: February 11th 2006
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Homeschool Project
It seems that the Bortman Homeschool will be shifting into low gear (it never really closes) once Ellie starts school next week. Here she is with her paper chain of numbers from 1 to 20 (she wrote them and put them together all herself). Boy, have we had a busy week! It is now 8:45 Friday night and everyone is in bed but me, poor, old blogger. (I know, I know - when you were young, you used to have to stay up to midnight writing your blogs, and in the snow, and barefoot, oy vey… kids these days.) By the time I am done with this and I upload pictures over our slow connection, it probably will be midnight. And I’ll be the guest picture putter-inner and captioner since I don’t want to bother Dara.
I know I said in the past that I would try to add more insight and less travel-log (we did this, then we did this, then… blah, blah, blah) but it is tough - there’s been a lot going on and we want to keep you up to speed. But some quick reflections - are we glad we came? Yes definitely. It has been pretty much what we expected, if not better. The country is beautiful, the people here are wonderful, city-life is a nice change of pace (we can walk to the central park in downtown Heredia in 10 minutes from our apartment and 3 supermarkets, 3
Election Day
Around the polling places there was a carnival-like, block party atmosphere -- each party had a tent, supporters wearing shirts and hats, waving flags, playing music, etc. gyms, Ellie’s school, and more are all within a few blocks), and the cultural and language differences make for a colorful, if not slightly challenging, atmosphere. There are times it is hard - we don’t have many friends yet, at least not ones you just call on the phone or swing by their house. The kids (and the adults, too, I suppose) do get homesick and want to see their friends, but, hey, we’re not going to be gone that long. And once Ellie goes to school (starts Monday!) Dara has a couple of volunteer and other job potentials and will hopefully meet some more people that way. It is hard to believe two months have already gone by. They seem to have flown by, but it also seems that we’ve done so much in them, too. I think that Ari really likes school - when he gets off the bus in the afternoon he always has a big smile on his face and you can just tell that he likes it (even though when you ask him what he did in school, he still says, “Nothing.” I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree). Anyway, back to
Polling Place
The tan building in the back is where people go to vote. Outside the fence is where the tents are set up. No campaigning allowed inside the fence. the travel log…
Last Saturday was just a hang around the house kind of day - is was cold and dreary with rain on and off all day. So, we just hung around the house. Ari had just finished his first week of school and we were all happy to just do nothing. Sunday, however, dawned bright, sunny and windy - perfect weather for Election Day. Election Day here in Costa Rica is quite a big deal. This country has a great tradition of democracy and they certainly show it. Everyone you meet is politically informed and has strong opinions about the government and candidates. The campaign leading up to the election and Election Day is a chance for everyone to manifest their feelings.
There are two main parties, the PLC and PAC, I think (don’t ask me what they stand for) and a whole bunch of minor parties. Each party has their colors and their supporters show their support by brandishing flags with the party colors. These flags are everywhere - on peoples’ houses, on signs, and more than anyplace else, on their cars.
So on Sunday, Election Day, we wandered around town to feel some
Hey you! You on the bike...
Another method of campaigning they have here that you don’t see so often in the USA are cars with huge loudspeakers mounted on their roofs driving slowly up and down the street. If you’ve ever seen the movie the Blues Brothers, you know what I mean. of the excitement. It is really great to see how the people get so animated. It turns out that this year only 65% of the eligible voters voted. This was one of the worst turnouts in a long time (whereas back home it would be a great turnout). Many people in Costa Rica are discouraged with politics - the current President has not been effective and is largely blamed for the floundering economy. Not to mention that a cloud of scandals has been hanging over him for his entire term (Presidents here are elected to a 4 year term and can not be immediately reelected). Some of his cronies have been sent to jail. His party, the red and blue party, is nowhere to be seen this time around.
Well, the upshot of the election is that they have still to declare a winner! The vote totals are very close between the two front runners - only a few thousand votes separate them - so they are manually recounting all the votes (something else the US could take a lesson from? - and no butterfly ballots here - the ballot is a sheet of paper and every candidate has
Flag Car
These flags are everywhere on peoples’ houses, on signs, and more than anyplace else, on their cars. As people drive around, when they see someone with a flag for the party they support, they beep their horn. his picture and his party’s flag printed in color on it). Although everyday we hear some people saying that they should know by the end of the day who the winner is, I expect we won’t know for at least another week. I’m no political analyst and I am certainly no news junkie, but it seems that there is little rancor and no legal wrangling over this (at least not yet anyway). Of course the news each night leads with the story. The head of the elections board comes on and says how it is a slow process and they are being very carefully to make sure everything is done correctly and that people just need to be patient. Then there is a clip of a spokesman for each of the candidates, Oscar Arias (who was president from 1987 to 1991, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and was the projected to win easily going in to the election - projected by the polls and by our informal “flag survey”) and Oton Solis (the young, “fresh new face” politician) who say that they have every confidence that the election board is doing a good job and that it is going
Another Flag Car
Also, when they see someone with a flag for a party they are against, they beep their horn. And when they are driving around and don’t see any flags, they beep their horn. So you can imagine there is a little horn honking going on. to take time to get the votes counted. It is nothing like what happened in the US in 2000.
The rest of the week will have to wait until tomorrow to be written about - I went used car shopping, we met with Ari’s teacher, Ellie had 2 days of “Mommy and Me” to warm up for school, jujitsu classes, Ari’s soccer club, a job interview at one of the local English schools, lots of homework for Ari… And tomorrow is a school picnic at the European School - we’ll get to meet the kids in his class and their parents.
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eli
non-member comment
weather
So sorry to hear that it was 'cold and dreary with rain on and off all day' one day last week. I sent you (a little earlier today) the weather report for Yardley -- 10-13 inches of snow expected. It's 25 in Boston today and we're going to get 12-18 inches of snow starting tonight. So -- tell us more abut how cold and rainy it was.